Saturday, October 1, 2011

Brave New Scents: Avalon by Ambrosia Jones (Perfume by Nature)

Avalon is one of those imaginary places I wish existed and I could visit it. Possibly with all the legendary characters being there at the time. :)

In place of that, smelling it suits me just fine.

Here is Ambrosia's description of Avalon:

"A Magical Perfume full of sweet apples, waiting for harvest in the sacred groves of Avalon... the soft earthiness of hay drying in the fields on a soft late Summer's eve... and as the sun goes down, the scent of incense arises and you can almost hear chanting as the Magic begins to grow around you..."

And here are the notes:
Top notes: apple CO2 and distillate, neroli

Midnotes: rose du mai, green mandarin, apple blossom accord
Base notes: labdanum, hay, fir balsam, amber acco


This is a magical perfume.
 
I get surprised by the opening each time I spray it. The hay in there is full of blooming flowers making the air around it fragrantly spicy. Apple orchard is close by but not much as the fragrant air bears only hints of it. And someone must have bit into an apple as it's flavour is wafting in the air. I believe that someone prefers the apple with some nuts?
It's already early afternoon as the sun has beat heavily on the hay to make the air so fragrant.
The late summer languidness is in the air and anything is possible.

Is magic in the air?
Or are we only imagining the possibilites, drowsing in the sun?

Possibly falling asleep and dreaming of the ambery sweetness in fragrant lands.

If only the dream would last...


And now for the best part. Ambrosia is offering a 5ml perfume oil to one lucky commenter! :)

Please check out the other participating blogs (and more chances to win some natural bravery):

 Feminine Things
Perfume Shrine
The Perfume Critic
Ca Fleure Bon
The Examiner

And Perfumers:

Lord's Jester
Perfume by Nature
Anya's Garden Perfumes
Providence Perfume Co.
House of Matriarch
Belly Flowers
a wing and a prayer perfumes
JoAnne Bassett
One Seed Perfume
Ascent Natural Perfumes


P.S. Did you know that Avalon probably comes from Welsh afal meaning apple?

24 comments:

  1. I hope I'll dream of ambery sweetness, what a nice expression:-) At least I know all the listed notes here ;-)

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  2. I'm so glad you liked "Avalon" Ines!
    I've blogged a bit more about the creation of Avalon on my blog..and you can order it from there too!

    http://perfumebynature.blogspot.com/2011/10/few-years-ago-i-went-back-to-england.html

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  3. Thank you Asali. :)
    I would love hearing your thoughts on the mix these notes provide. The most intriguing apple I ever had a chance to smell.

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  4. Ambrosia, I just wish I had more (and better) words to describe Avalon. I enjoy wearing it a lot as it brings a smile to my face. :)

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  5. Ines, I am a total sucker for drawings, and a sucker for anything with labdanum in it, so please enter me in the drawing for Avalon.

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  6. Please, enter me in the draw! I'm very intrigued by the apple blossom note in this perfume :) Thank you!

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  7. Reading the notes Avalon is a must try for me.

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  8. THis one sounds awesome as well, I'd love to be entered into this draw :)

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  9. Doc Elly, I'm a total sucker for drawings too! :)
    You're in.

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  10. Isa, you're in.
    The whole apple experience is wonderful in Avalon.

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  11. Lisa BTB, I'd say Avalon is a must try for everyone.
    I'm very happy with the perfumers I was paired with for this project, I seem to have hit it off famously with their perfumes. :)

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  12. Flavourfanatic, you're in. :)

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  13. This sounds dreamy. And I always loved reading about Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley's books were favorites oh so many years ago), I'd love to try this. Please enter me in the draw.

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  14. Dear Olfactoria, I'm afraid I've always been more eager to spend time in my fantasy world than real life, so this one won me over even before I smelled it (afterwards it was for real). ;)

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  15. The mentioning of apple, hay and labdanum sounds super exciting and intriguing!

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  16. Apple, and fruity notes in general, are harder to come by in natural perfumes as most fruits, the citruses excluded, are so hesitant to yield their scents. Avalon, withs its apple notes, definitely has my attention now. I would love the chance to smell it! And how cool to learn there is an Apple CO2 out there!
    Thanks for the great review and draw!

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  17. Womo, now that you put it like that, just those 3 notes have a lot of potential :)

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  18. Thank you Michael. :)
    I wish there were more samples to give-away, I think the apple is catching people's interest. :)

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  19. Ines, I'm so delighted with your participation in the Brave New Scents project, and your obvious love of Ambrosia's Avalon is wonderful. I always hope some complete novice to natural perfumery wins, because it is only through first-hand experience that art can be appreciated.

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  20. Anya, one of the most important things I've learned about natural perfumery is, you have to give those perfumes several wearings and time in order to get to know them.
    The problem then though is that most of them get under your skin, and you don't want to live without them. :)

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  21. I'm totally into the sound of this perfume. I love eating apples and neroli is divine. I can only imagine how lovely this would be. Please enter me! Thanks, Laura Matheson (lkmatheson@gmail.com)

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  22. Dear Laura, you're in. :)
    Lately I've realized I'm not much of a neroli fan (I like it some of the time) but Avalon is not one of those "bad" times.
    Good luck. :)

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  23. Wow, i'd love to try this apple perfume! Hope I'm in, it's way before midnight on the Pacific coast of the US!

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  24. Warum, Pacific coast midnight counts, and you're in (I'm about to draw the winners). :)

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